This thread is a major disappointment. It should be limited to Progressive Metal bands in the vein of Fates Warning, Queensryche etc. Bands which have made a career on being progressive. The inclusion of Death in this topic isn't surprising though the non-mention of the more appropriate Control Denied is grounds for failure.

Progressive Metal is a genre. Metal in which the term progressive is used as an adjective is not.

In all seriousness however, the couple of prog bands that I know/enjoy are Riverside and Vanden Plas.

Anything relatively similar? Especially something with a similar vocal approach to that of the Riverside singer(brilliant clean voice, occasionally layered with the occasional snarl)?

You'll have a tough time finding a vocalist like Mariusz Duda from Riverside. Hell, you'll have a tough time finding any band that sounds like Riverside. The closest I know of is Osada Vida, who aren't metal and aren't as good as Riverside.

I don't find so-called "progressive metal" to be that progressive, considering that you always get what you expect from most bands I've come across in that genre.

Progressive refers to the quasi-linear (and sometimes actually linear!) compositional structure that many of them use, not a very specific sound. Although there is a very identifiable and definitive style of what modern progressive metal bands sound like.

Progressive refers to the quasi-linear (and sometimes actually linear!) compositional structure that many of them use, not a very specific sound.

Are you sure? It is true that most prog bands (at least prog rock; I can't really remember many song structures of prog metal songs, except several by Beyond Twilight which are more verse-chorus oriented) have "more linear" song structures than other bands, but I don't think that's the only characteristic that makes a band "progressive."

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So, Manes > Samael?

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yeah, it's ironic, they are so pretentious, yet one can say that at least they don't pretend. They don't release some techno-rap-whatever album and say "on this record we tried to sound like in our old days"

Progressive is a very nebulous and suggestive description anyway. Currently, at least among prog-heads, anything with complex time signatures seems to be prog. This is not what I thought was prog when I got into good ol' Tull, Yes or Genesis but there you are.

Basically, I've always hated prog metal, it's just turned me off whenever I'd heard it. With my recent interest in power metal, I'm looking for some "gateway" bands that could introduce me to the genre. I know people seem to mention a number of bands all the time, but even these "popular" bands in the genre often have a huge amount of releases, and the wrong choice could put me off forever! I'm willing to give the genre a try though, so here we go...

Looking for some prog metal with a fair leaning towards power metal (I'm talking Black Majesty style power metal here) and not to much emphasis on the whole "progressive" stuff, I'm a newbie to it after all. Good, strong vocals are a plus (no harsh vocals please, as I said I'm leaning towards to pm styled bands) and a nice flow in the songs, no Opeth-style stop-stop stuff.

That's about as detailed as I can make my description unfortunately, I just have no knowledge of the genre.

It really gets complicated when it gets to comparing prog rock to prog metal. Is prog metal the metal version of prog rock, as in prog metal is to metal as prog rock is to rock, or is prog metal a sub-gnere of prog rock?

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So, Manes > Samael?

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yeah, it's ironic, they are so pretentious, yet one can say that at least they don't pretend. They don't release some techno-rap-whatever album and say "on this record we tried to sound like in our old days"

Progressive refers to the quasi-linear (and sometimes actually linear!) compositional structure that many of them use, not a very specific sound.

Are you sure? It is true that most prog bands (at least prog rock; I can't really remember many song structures of prog metal songs, except several by Beyond Twilight which are more verse-chorus oriented) have "more linear" song structures than other bands, but I don't think that's the only characteristic that makes a band "progressive."

Beyond Twilight? Maybe on the first album and a few songs from Section-X, but most on that album are still unconventional to the pop structure standard. And then you have the metal symphony that is "For the Love of Art and the Making" which doesn't even belong in that category.

But as far as making any sort of objective empirical claims, I'd say that is the strongest qualifier for being a progressive metal band. Of course there are other things which could place a piece of music within the genre. I even admitted to there being an established style. However I was only talking about what the word typically historically referred (and refers) to.

Progressive refers to the quasi-linear (and sometimes actually linear!) compositional structure that many of them use, not a very specific sound.

Are you sure? It is true that most prog bands (at least prog rock; I can't really remember many song structures of prog metal songs, except several by Beyond Twilight which are more verse-chorus oriented) have "more linear" song structures than other bands, but I don't think that's the only characteristic that makes a band "progressive."

Beyond Twilight? Maybe on the first album and a few songs from Section-X, but most on that album are still unconventional to the pop structure standard. And then you have the metal symphony that is "For the Love of Art and the Making" which doesn't even belong in that category.

Of course, I wasn't generalizing the band as a whole; the only ones whose structures I could rememer were Ecstasy Arise (I remember everything from this song because it's my favourite) and Section X title track. I didn't remember other song structures probably becaue they are unconventional.

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But as far as making any sort of objective empirical claims, I'd say that is the strongest qualifier for being a progressive metal band. Of course there are other things which could place a piece of music within the genre. I even admitted to there being an established style. However I was only talking about what the word typically historically referred (and refers) to.

That sounds fair enough.

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So, Manes > Samael?

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yeah, it's ironic, they are so pretentious, yet one can say that at least they don't pretend. They don't release some techno-rap-whatever album and say "on this record we tried to sound like in our old days"

Of course, I wasn't generalizing the band as a whole; the only ones whose structures I could rememer were Ecstasy Arise (I remember everything from this song because it's my favourite) and Section X title track. I didn't remember other song structures probably becaue they are unconventional.

Ah ok. Beyond Twilight is one of my favorite prog metal bands, actually. The title track from Section-X doesn't really represent well enough the common pop structure. It has far too many sections for that. While there are verses that repeat (as there are in nearly every prog metal song, very few are strictly linear), it strays well enough off the beaten path of "verse/chorus".

Anyway, since this is the prog metal help thread I'll do a favor and recommend to everyone who hasn't heard the band exactly this one. Beyond Twilight is incredible. Finn Zierler possesses an incredibly unique style, and Section-X is one of the darkest progressive metal albums I can think of.

This is what I think too because it seems to be progheads who have tagged lot of bands as prog-metal and not metalheads tagging some metal bands as progressive. Or rather it works both ways, leading to a confounded mess.

It is quite easy in my mind to differentiate between progressive metal and progressive rock. Listen to Pink Floyd, then listen to Anubis Gate and tell me which one is metal and which one is rock. It's not as complicated of an issue as you might make it out.

Ah ok. Beyond Twilight is one of my favorite prog metal bands, actually. The title track from Section-X doesn't really represent well enough the common pop structure. It has far too many sections for that. While there are verses that repeat (as there are in nearly every prog metal song, very few are strictly linear), it strays well enough off the beaten path of "verse/chorus".

Ah, yeah, it isn't really a typical structure; I just lumped it in due to the repetition.

Anyway, I second Section X. The Dark Side (the fifth track) is especially very, very dark and twisted.

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So, Manes > Samael?

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yeah, it's ironic, they are so pretentious, yet one can say that at least they don't pretend. They don't release some techno-rap-whatever album and say "on this record we tried to sound like in our old days"

It is quite easy in my mind to differentiate between progressive metal and progressive rock. Listen to Pink Floyd, then listen to Anubis Gate and tell me which one is metal and which one is rock. It's not as complicated of an issue as you might make it out.

It's easy to tell what is metal and what is not, but that's from a metal standpoint. I'm not very familiar with the prog community, but it seems like they think prog metal is a subgenre of prog rock. Anubis Gate sounds very different from Pink Floyd but so does Magma, Univers Zero, and probably many post-rock bands (I'm not sure on this because I haven't heard much of the more modern variants of prog).

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Quote:

So, Manes > Samael?

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yeah, it's ironic, they are so pretentious, yet one can say that at least they don't pretend. They don't release some techno-rap-whatever album and say "on this record we tried to sound like in our old days"

Well I can even say that Shadow Gallery, which is as close to prog rock that a prog metal band will come is still pretty identifiable as metal.

That's true, but I was saying that progheads consider prog metal bands, and even Atheist, Cryptopsy, etc. as belonging to prog rock, though this is of course a broader definition of prog rock.

It actually seems like a non-issue, though, at least for the purposes of this thread, since this is a metal forum and a metal perspetive is a given.

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Quote:

So, Manes > Samael?

Quote:

yeah, it's ironic, they are so pretentious, yet one can say that at least they don't pretend. They don't release some techno-rap-whatever album and say "on this record we tried to sound like in our old days"

In all seriousness however, the couple of prog bands that I know/enjoy are Riverside and Vanden Plas.

Anything relatively similar? Especially something with a similar vocal approach to that of the Riverside singer(brilliant clean voice, occasionally layered with the occasional snarl)?

You'll have a tough time finding a vocalist like Mariusz Duda from Riverside. Hell, you'll have a tough time finding any band that sounds like Riverside. The closest I know of is Osada Vida, who aren't metal and aren't as good as Riverside.

im looking for some prog metal that has a sad, melancholy atmosphere, an overall darker sound. most prog metal ive heard sounds too happy for me, and i tend to dislike it.

a good example of what im talking about is dark suns - existence. riverside also fits the bill. im already going to check out anubis gate and vanden plas based on what ive read here, but i would appreciate any more suggestions.